What I'm working on...

On Wednesday of this past week, one of the co-directors of RIVER, Mrs. Rao, had a brilliant idea: why not host a 3-day camp for 2nd and 3rd grade children in order to teach them essential lessons in English, in order to enable them to start the English program next year at a higher level than our 1st grade babies?

This idea had been discussed since November. As our lessons are based around multi-grade multi-level learning, it would be kind of silly to have all of the children start at level one the first year.  Thus, we decided to equip some children with the knowledge to start at the appropriate level for their age/grade level. 

However, the brilliance of the idea comes from the details: first, 3 days.  That really doesn't seem like enough days to cover two years worth of curriculum.  Secondly, 2nd and 3rd grade children.  That equals around 140 students.  And that is a lot of students for 5 instructors (which is how many we have to run the camp).  Thirdly, essential lessons in English include learning how to read.  In three days.  With a teacher:student ratio of 5:140*.  Brilliant.

The best part?  The camp will start on Monday, giving us approximately two days to prepare, as Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are all holidays here at Rishi Valley this week. 

So, this is my challenge of the week:
2 days to prepare
3 day camp
140 children
5 instructors
2 years worth of curriculum
kids all need to learn to read


Needless to say, I'm working through the 3-day weekend.  Can't wait for Monday. I'm hoping it'll be bloody brilliant.




*We've decided to split up the children in two groups. So, this reduces the teacher:student ratio to 5:70 or 1:14, which is much better.  Hooray.